1800s

Historic B&W photos of Berlin, Germany (19th Century)

Historic B&W photos of Berlin, Germany (19th Century)

The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city’s economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of…
Vintage: Washington DC in the mid-19th Century (1840s-1860s)

Vintage: Washington DC in the mid-19th Century (1840s-1860s)

In the 1830s, the District’s southern territory of Alexandria went into economic decline partly due to neglect by Congress. The city of Alexandria was a major market in the American slave trade, and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the District, further depressing the economy. Alexandria’s citizens petitioned Virginia to take back the land it…
Vintage: Dublin in the late 19th Century (1860s-1890s)

Vintage: Dublin in the late 19th Century (1860s-1890s)

Dublin, unlike Belfast in the north, did not experience the full effect of the industrial revolution and as a result, the number of unskilled unemployed was always high in the city. Industries like the Guinness brewery, Jameson Distillery, and Jacob’s biscuit factory provided the most stable employment. New working class suburbs grew up in Kilmainham and Inchicore around them. Another…
Vintage: Victorian Era Portraits by Lady Clementina Hawarden (1860s)

Vintage: Victorian Era Portraits by Lady Clementina Hawarden (1860s)

Lady Clementina Hawarden (1 June 1822-19 January 1865) was a noted portrait photographer of the 1860s. Hawarden first began to experiment with photography in 1857, taking stereoscopic landscape photographs before moving to large-format, stand-alone portraits of her daughters. Much of Hawarden’s life remains a mystery to us. It is doubtful that she kept a diary as nothing has been discovered,…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Cairo in the 19th Century (1860s-1880s)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Cairo in the 19th Century (1860s-1880s)

Under the Ottomans, Cairo expanded south and west from its nucleus around the Citadel. The city was the second-largest in the empire, behind only Constantinople, and, although migration was not the primary source of Cairo’s growth, twenty percent of its population at the end of the 18th century consisted of religious minorities and foreigners from around the Mediterranean. Still, when…
Vintage: B&W Photos of Scotland from between the 1840s and 1880s

Vintage: B&W Photos of Scotland from between the 1840s and 1880s

In 19th century Glasgow became one of the largest cities in the world, and known as “the Second City of the Empire” after London. After 1860 the Clydeside shipyards specialised in steamships made of iron (after 1870, made of steel), which rapidly replaced the wooden sailing vessels of both the merchant fleets and the battle fleets of the world. It…
Vintage: Amsterdam in Victorian Era by Jacob Olie (1890s)

Vintage: Amsterdam in Victorian Era by Jacob Olie (1890s)

At the end of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution reached Amsterdam. The Amsterdam-Rijn kanaal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine and the Noordzee kanaal to give the port a connection with the North Sea. Both projects improved communication with the rest of Europe and the world dramatically. They gave the economy a big boost.…
Vintage: Everyday Life in Jamaica (1890s)

Vintage: Everyday Life in Jamaica (1890s)

The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of severe economic decline for Jamaica. Low crop prices, droughts, and disease led to serious social unrest, culminating in the Morant Bay rebellions of 1865. However, renewed British administration after the 1865 rebellion, in the form of Crown colony status, resulted in some social and economic progress as well as…
Vintage: Helsinki in the late 19th Century (1890s)

Vintage: Helsinki in the late 19th Century (1890s)

During the 19th century, Helsinki became the economic and cultural center of Finland; as elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were key factors behind the city’s growth. The first Helsinki railway station opened in 1862 with service to Hämeenlinna. Beginning from the late 19th century, the Finnish language became more and more dominant in the city, since the…
Vintage: Japan in the late XIX Century (Meiji period, 1870s-1880s)

Vintage: Japan in the late XIX Century (Meiji period, 1870s-1880s)

In 1869 The Emperor was restored to nominal supreme power, and the imperial family moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo (“eastern capital”). However, the most powerful men in the government were former samurai from Chōshū and Satsuma rather than the Emperor, who was fifteen in 1868. These men, known as the Meiji oligarchs, oversaw the dramatic changes Japan would…
Historic B&W photos of Amsterdam, Holland in the 19th Century

Historic B&W photos of Amsterdam, Holland in the 19th Century

The end of the 19th century is sometimes called Amsterdam’s second Golden Age. New museums, a train station, and the Concertgebouw were built; in this same time, the Industrial Revolution reached the city. The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine, and the North Sea Canal was dug to give the port a shorter…
Vintage Daguerreotype portraits from XIX Century (1844 – 1860)

Vintage Daguerreotype portraits from XIX Century (1844 – 1860)

Mathew B. Brady (1822 – 1896) was one of the first American photographers, who pioneered the daguerreotype technique in America. Brady opened his own studio in New York in 1844, and photographed Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, among other celebrities. Here is a collection of mid 19th century Daguerreotypes produced by Mathew Brady’s studio (1844 – 1860). From the…
Historic B&W photos of Florence, Italy in the 19th Century

Historic B&W photos of Florence, Italy in the 19th Century

Florence replaced Turin as Italy’s capital in 1865 and, in an effort to modernise the city, the old market in the Piazza del Mercato Vecchio and many medieval houses were pulled down and replaced by a more formal street plan with newer houses. The Piazza (first renamed Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele II, then Piazza della Repubblica, the present name) was significantly…
Vintage Black and White photos of German Castles

Vintage Black and White photos of German Castles

The centuries of invasive enterprises of the Romans from the South, Vikings from the North, and the multitude of marauding tribes and nomads from the East, each wreaking their own special brand of terror, necessitated construction of border, royal and community fortifications throughout Europe. But individual castle building is what sets Europe apart from previous defensive constructions. Personal castle building…
Vintage: Rio de Janeiro (1880s-1910s)

Vintage: Rio de Janeiro (1880s-1910s)

When Prince Pedro proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic. Until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as…
Vintage: Early Days of the London Underground

Vintage: Early Days of the London Underground

The idea of an underground railway linking the City of London with some of the railway termini in its urban centre was proposed in the 1830s, and the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854. To prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar…
Vintage: Canadian Pacific Railway Locomotives (1880s)

Vintage: Canadian Pacific Railway Locomotives (1880s)

The construction of the national railway by the Canadian Pacific Railway company in the 1880s is inextricably linked with the settlement and development of Western Canada. Glenbow Museum has an extensive collection of more than 6000 railway-related historic photographs, which document the building and operation of the CPR as well as other railways in the West. The locomotives in these…
Vintage: Victorian Era Portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron (1860s-1870s)

Vintage: Victorian Era Portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron (1860s-1870s)

In 1863, when Cameron was 48 years old, her daughter gave her a camera as a present, thereby starting her career as a photographer. Within a year, Cameron became a member of the Photographic Societies of London and Scotland. She remained a member of the Photographic Society, London, until her death. In her photography, Cameron strove to capture beauty. She…
Vintage: Niagara Falls during Winter (19th Century)

Vintage: Niagara Falls during Winter (19th Century)

There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the falls. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, “Niagara” is derived from the name given to a branch of the local native Neutral Confederacy, who are described as being called the “Niagagarega” people on several late-17th-century French maps of the area.[13] According to George R. Stewart, it comes…